Art-ificial: The virtual virtuosos redefining creativity

IN A loft overlooking the rooftops of one of the buzzing artistic neighbourhoods of Paris, France, Simon Colton is carefully unfurling one giant painting after another. I have waited some time to see these, and am unsure what to expect. To dislike them would be a disappointment, but easy. If I think these paintings are any good, however, then I might have to reconsider my own creative talents. In fact, they might even challenge my understanding of what it means to be human.

The thing is, these paintings are not the work of an ordinary artist. Nor of Colton, who is a computer scientist based at Imperial College London. Instead, they have been created by a piece of software that can seek artistic inspiration and, arguably, has a rudimentary imagination. Called the Painting Fool, it may have been designed by Colton, but its artwork is its ...

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